Student Suspended for Slicing Apple During Healthy Snacks Presentation

Da’von Shaw, a Bedford, Ohio high school student,
brought apples and craisins to school for a “healthy eating”
presentation he was giving to his speech class. He took out a knife
to slice an apple, and I’m sure you can all guess
what happened next:

“When I took out the knife the teacher then told me that I
couldn’t use it, so I didn’t hesitate I just gave it to her,” said
Da’von.

He continued with his other classes, but late in the day was
suspended for five days. The suspension letter charged him with
having a weapon at school. 

His mother Shakila Wilson is angry, saying, “I can take off my
belt and use that as a weapon. Pens and pencils can be used as a
weapon. You can’t take a person with no intentions to harm and put
them as a criminal because that’s what you normally do.” 

She feels the punishment is too much, didn’t take the
circumstances into account and worries about her son missing
classes and assignments.

At least he wasn’t actually executed by the Bedford High School zero
tolerance squad. But he was given a five-day
suspension for bringing a “weapon” to school. Questioned by a
reporter at 19 Action
News, the superintendent suggested that Da’von’s punishment
could actually have been much worse: an entire year’s suspension. I
guess the school was being incredibly lenient when it decided not
to put Da’von’s life on hold for a year over nothing.

A while back, when we first started hearing about these zero tolerance follies,
I might have sputtered something like, “What are we teaching kids
when a school refuses to make any distinction between actual danger
and normal life?” But now I realize: We are teaching kids
precisely what they need to learn in a
hyper-terrified society. They need to understand that society today
refuses to distinguish between an infinitesimal risk and a huge
one. Zero tolerance is perfect training.

Some day, if he
doesn’t do something crazy like bring a nailclipper to school,
Da’von will graduate. Eventually, he will matriculate into American
adulthood, where, if he wants an easy time of it, he will
not roll his eyes when a TSA agent confiscates his
3.5 oz tube of Pepsodent, and not slam the door when a cop
comes to investigate him for letting his son play at the park,
unsupervised.

In other words: To get along as he goes along, Da’Von will be
expected—required!—to accept safety hysteria as a way of life. As a
high school student who sliced an apple without considering the
enormous threat this posed to his fellow students, he failed. But
after five days at home to reflect on what he did, perhaps he will
be ready to become a good, quaking, danger-hallucinating
American.